THE BOOKSTEVE CHANNEL

Signing Off

2016-12-27T23:16:00.001-05:00

Thanks for tuning in over the past 5 years but this blog is signing off. New TV-related posts will be found going forward at BOOKSTEVE'S LIBRARY and a new blog to be announced soon.

My Top 10 Favorite Game Show Hosts

2016-12-11T01:10:00.001-05:00

Gary Moore

I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth

Being a game show host has always been a very specialized field unique to entertainment. Some major names have tried and failed while others, from all walks of news and entertainment, have made it look easy. There are a surprising amount of folks who were quite good at it--actor Bert Convy, singers Bill Anderson and Donny Osmond, newsman Mike Wallace, comic legend Groucho Marx, music legend Dick Clark, and all around entertainer Steve Allen. Here, though, we see my personal favorites, from nearly 60 years of game show watching.

All of these men had what it takes to not only keep the game going but also to keep the egos of various guest celebrities and panelists in check, all with a smile, a wink, some fast talking, and a seemingly easy way of going with the flow.

John Daly

What's My Line?

Bob Barker

Truth or Consequences, The Price is Right

Allen Ludden

Password

Bill Cullen

Eye Guess, Blockbusters, and many more!

Peter Marshall

Hollywood Squares

Bud Collyer

Beat the Clock, To Tell the Truth

Art Fleming

Jeopardy

Monty Hall

Let's Make a Deal

Richard Dawson

Family Feud, Match Game

R.I.P. Van Williams

2016-12-05T20:16:00.001-05:00

R.I.P. Florence Henderson

2016-11-25T07:14:00.000-05:00

Way too many TV passings in 2016. Here's another. "America's Mom."

Rest in peace.

R.I.P. Robert Vaughn--The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

2016-11-11T17:09:00.001-05:00

ABC's Second Season-1966

2016-11-08T21:11:00.000-05:00

The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters Theme

2016-10-25T23:30:00.001-04:00

The pre-Donny Osmonds sang the theme and occasionally appeared on the short-lived but well-remembered TV series from the early '60s called THE TRAVELS OF JAIMIE McPHEETERS. The series starred Dan O'Herlihy as a classy father with a drinking problem in the old west. He and his son Jaimie, well-played by young Kurt Russell, eventually end up on a wagon train where generally well-written anthology type stories took place week after week. Charles Bronson becomes the wagonmaster about halfway through the series. The Osmonds' appearances, doing barbershop quartet style harmonies, were somewhat anachronistic highlights. They were obviously a favorite of the Brothers Gibb in Australia as they adopted that style and even recorded a version of this song.

What I Watched the Week of May 6-13, 1972

2016-09-26T22:10:00.001-04:00

Haven’t done one of these in a while. Let’s say it’s the week of May 6-12, 1972 and I’m in the Cincinnati area. I was 13 years old. What would I have watched on TV every evening?

Saturday

My mother liked NBC’ EMERGENCY but my dad liked CBS’s ALL IN THE FAMILY. We all liked ABC’s BEWITCHED, though, and even though it was a late rerun, I think that’s what we watched. That would have left us open to switch to CBS for the rest of the night for MARY TYLER MOORE, THE NEW DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, ARNIE, and then at 10 back to ABC for Gary Collins’ THE SIXTH SENSE.

Sunday

On Sundays, whether or not we watched WALT DISNEY depended on what was on and this week it was a rerun of “Joker, the Amiable Ocelot,” which we would have skipped. Probably would have watched TOM JONES with the Bee Gees, Tim Conway, and Lulu. At 9, we definitely watched Tom Jones as he starred in one of my favorite specials of the day, THE SPECIAL LONDON BRIDGE SPECIAL. I know because I sat in front of the set and audiotaped it! The Carpenters, Elliot Gould, Chief Dan George, Terry-Thomas, and Hermione Gingold headed an all-star cast directed by David Winters (I believe), many years later a FB friend! My mother would have watched THE BOLD ONES right after that but not me.

Monday

Normally the choice here was between LAUGH-IN and GUNSMOKE, the latter being my dad’s favorite series. This being rerun season, though, I’m betting we watched Dan and Dick. Rich Little guested on HERE’S LUCY at 9 (I shook hands with him 8 years later) and we rarely skipped THE DORIS DAY SHOW. At 10, we watched Anne Bancroft’s rerun special.

Tuesday

At 8, we had to choose between PONDEROSA (??), GLEN CAMPBELL, and MOD SQUAD. We watched them all and none of the episodes look familiar so not sure which we saw that night. Either way, we probably turned it off halfway through because my mom was a buff for beauty pageants and AMERICA’S JUNIOR MISS was on.

Wednesday

For some reason, two local stations preempted network programming—including McCLOUD, THE SMITH FAMILY, THE MARTY FELDMAN COMEDY MACHINE, and THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE’S FATHER for old movies tonight! This left us with CAROL BURNETT and MEDICAL CENTER. At 10, the movies ended and we had to choose between NIGHT GALLERY and MANNIX.

Thursday

ALIAS SMITH AND JONES was opposite the legendarily bad ME & THE CHIMP. If we watched the latter that night, then at 8:30 we probably watched MY THREE SONS (although in retrospect, I wish we’d watched THE OLD RADIO COMEDIANS on PBS). IRONSIDE with Raymond Burr was a favorite on at 9 but we also watched LONGSTREET fairly often on the other channel. DEAN MARTIN probably beat out OWEN MARSHALL, COUNSELOR AT LAW but maybe not. It was the latter show that made me (briefly) want to become an attorney.

Friday

My BRADY BUNCH was vying against my dad’s SANFORD AND SON. I remember watching this Brady episode, though. After that, Fridays were straight ABC at our house always—THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, THE ODD COUPLE, ROOM 222, and LOVE AMERICAN STYLE.

And that was the week that was (to coin a phrase) in May of 1972.

Pebbles Flintstone-1963

2016-09-19T22:57:00.000-04:00

Exploitation? What exploitation? Pebbles made her TV debut in late February of 1963. The Baby Pebbles doll was in stores that very week and more toys, games, etc appeared throughout the year! Holy Sparkle Plenty!

Jerry's First National MD Telethon-1970

2016-09-05T19:08:00.000-04:00

The John Larroquette Show 1993-1996

2016-08-19T21:59:00.004-04:00

I was reminded today of THE JOHN LARROQUETTE SHOW, a series from 24 years back that should be much better remembered than it is. After years of perfecting the obnoxious "Dan Fielding" on NIGHT COURT, it may be that no matter how good his performance was, the public simply wouldn't accept John as a nice guy.

In spite of its title, this was an ensemble cast series with Larroquette the odd sane man out in an insane microcosm of a bus station. One unique aspect of his character was that he was an alcoholic, like Sam on CHEERS. Only here, he was constantly in danger of falling off the wagon and his struggles were not only written in but often highlighted whole episodes. Rock star David Crosby--himself a notorious addict--appeared from time to time as John's character's AA sponsor.

Our hero is the new night manager at a bus station and it pretty much becomes his world, shared with the other citizens of the night who either work or hang out there.

Episodes were a mixture of well-performed comedy and well-acted drama and the show ran several acclaimed seasons but then seemed quickly and wrongly forgotten.

R.I.P. Noel Neill

2016-07-04T16:50:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I'd call it an early crush as much as just a strong, almost maternal, feeling from Noel Neill, the original and most well-known live action Lois Lane. After a modeling career and some B movies, she first turned up as the crusading reporter in Kirk Alyn's Superman serials. At first replaced in the George Reeves TV version, she returned to the role and won the hearts of youngsters and their future selves everywhere. She passed yesterday.

R.I.P.

Get Smart-1965

2016-06-13T22:17:00.000-04:00

Designed by committee--including Mel Brooks and Buck Henry-- as a spoof of James Bond and THE MAN FRON U.NC.L.E. by way of Inspector Clouseau and adapting Don Adams' pre-existing "Byron Glick" character from THE BILL DANA SHOW pretty much intact to fit the bill, TV's GET SMART--also co-starring purring commercial star Barbara Feldon--ran 5 seasons on 2 networks from 1965-1969 and has aged well. The zany comedy lead to two feature films, a TV movie, a revival series, a stage play, a series of tie-in book and comics, and at the time not just one but would you believe a half dozen catch phrases?

Here are a couple articles from just prior to the show first airing.

Selfie-2014

2016-06-07T15:19:00.001-04:00

It's rare that a new series impacts me at all anymore, let alone one that was dropped from the network after only 7 episodes. SELFIE is one such series, though. On the surface, it's a silly idea: a modern updating of the PYGMALION/MY FAIR LADY concept where a more refined man attempts to make over a less refined woman. By "modern," I mean that it's purposely infatuated with current tech that will in the long run severely date the series! What were they thinking?

The series starred Karen Gillan. If you didn't know her, you'd get the distinct impression that she was indeed the vacuous, unashamedly slutty, American character she appears to be. If you DID, however, know her, it was undoubtedly from her multi-series run on DOCTOR WHO as the smart, funny, Scottish Amelia Pond, one of the best traveling companions that series has ever offered.

In between DOCTOR WHO and SELFIE, the actress shaved her head completely for a featured role in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY so not only was her SELFIE accent not real but neither is her SELFIE hair. Well, it was real in a way. It was Karen's actual hair, made into a wig for her.

John Cho, best known as the new STAR TREK's Sulu and before that as Harold from the Harold and Kumar films takes on the Rex Harrison role in SELFIE, despite being about 15 years older than Karen.

And yet, after a rocky start where the premise is almost forced on the characters, by the script, it all works, and grows. Soon enough, the show reveals itself as a fearless ensemble comedy, with UK actor David Harewood as the boss--later so serious in THE NIGHT MANAGER and also now known as SUPERGIRL's Martian Manhunter--effortlessly stealing every scene in spite of superb competition from all involved. His willingness to be utterly ridiculous and yet maintain character integrity is a rare gift amongst today's thespians!

But it's the slowly evolving friendship between the often deadpan Cho and the ditzy Eliza that is the heart of the show, twisting it away from its seeming initial premise to show that there is no real right or wrong way to be for any of us.

While theirs would seem an unlikely romance, it never actually gets to that point, sabotaged by a final episode that was clearly anticipating a second season.

After SELFIE's network cancellation, I opted to save the episodes that aired since they weren't likely to ever turn up again. It was only this week that I learned that the remaining 6 episodes of the series were later aired on Hulu. I was able to attain them and watched again from the beginning. It started slow but it got good and it was ALWAYS funny. Both Karen and John show a real feel for comedy and both bring to it perhaps more reality than was originally intended. Makes it all the harder to know their characters are gone now and these 13 episodes are all we'll ever get.

Litte Orphan Raquel

2016-05-22T19:49:00.001-04:00

The country's reigning sex symbol, Raquel Welch, spoofed comic strip characters including Brenda Starr and Little Orphan Annie (seen here with Archie Bunker himself, Carroll O'Conner, as Daddy Warbucks) in an early 1970s CBS TV special called THE FUNNY PAPERS.

William Schallert R.I.P.

2016-05-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

The very definition of "that guy," when I was growing up, my parents could never remember William Schallert's name. It was always, "Hey, it's Patty Duke's daddy." That's pretty much what so many obits are calling him today, too, but he was also Nancy Drew's father, Dobie Gillis's teacher, and if he missed appearing at least once on any classic sixties series, I don't know what it would have been. STAR TREK, THAT GIRL, BEWITCHED, MARCUS WELBY, MD. While his output slowed down as he approached the age of 90, he never stopped working, appearing memorably in TRUE BLOOD in the past decade and a classic, surprisingly blue, performance on STU'S SHOW!

R.I.P.

R.I.P. Doris Roberts

2016-04-18T20:42:00.001-04:00

Her later role in EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND seems to have eclipsed much of Doris Roberts' long earlier career but to me she'll always be Mildred. The first season of REMINGTON STEELE was fun but it wasn't yet a great series until the arrival of Doris in Season Two.

R.I.P.

Laugh-In Signs

2016-04-14T09:37:00.000-04:00

Picket signs were big in the sixties. Here's some of the LAUGH-IN cast with some comical ones in a vintage photoshoot.

Battle of the Network Stars

2016-04-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

One show I could never get enough of in the late 1970s was BATTLE OF THE NETWORK STARS, a series in which each of the three major TV networks supplied stars as a team to compete in various Olympic style (or more like Field Day, actually) events. I was never into sports but it was so much fun watching the stars of all teb other shows out of character and having fun themselves...even though some such as Robert Conrad seemed to take it all TO seriously. Host Howard Cosell (seen above with team captain Telly Savalas), a polarizing figure in sports announcing, was the closest thing to a star of the series but just about anyone who was anyone in show biz at that time appeared at one time or another.Not sure what channel it's on but I accidentally came across episodes on TV recently so they're still out there even though most folks today wouldn't recognize half the folks who appeared!

Penny Marshall and Bruce (Caitlyn) Jenner.

Ron Howard, Penny Marshall, Telly, and Robert Conrad. (How was Ronny's hairpiece staying on?)

Lynda Carter and Gabe Kaplan

Billy Crystal and Bob Conrad

Farrah Fawcett-Majors and Penny

Jaclyn Smith

Sonny Bono and Suzie Coehlo

Dan Haggerty

Loretta Swit

Suzanne Somers

Jamie Farr

Gabe Kaplan and Robin Williams

Levar Burton

Mackenzie Phillips and Lance Kerwin

Tom Selleck

William Shatner

Mr. T

Trump supporter Scott Baio with TJ Jooker co-stars Adrian Zmed and Heather Locklear

My wife, Morgan Fairchild. (That's the ticket.)

Captain Kirk as you've never seen him!

Ben Murphy, Heather Thomas and Jill Whelan

Captain Daryl Dragon

Michael J. Fox and Kim Fields

Rare Hogan's Heroes Images

2016-04-08T00:30:00.000-04:00

Loved by many, hated by perhaps even more, HOGAN'S HEROES has long been a favorite of mine and I just found all these little seen shots from the show and behind the scenes.

George Reeves IS Superman

2016-04-07T15:46:00.000-04:00

Growing up, long before I ever saw a SUPERMAN comic book, the Man of Steel was my hero because of the TV series' Even though George Reeves died when I was only a few months old, he lives on even today as an embodiment of the real Superman!

Super President

2016-03-31T14:46:00.001-04:00

NOT Trump no matter what he wants you to believe.

R.I.P. Patty Duke

2016-03-29T13:29:00.001-04:00

What a horrible year for friends of my youth, both real and imagined...and its still early yet. Patty, we now know, endured a lot in her real life, but she turned out to be a relentlessly upbeat person who made me smile so many times over the years from movies to TV series to even her online Social Security ads! We were even Facebook pals for a while. Thanks for everything, Anna. I'll miss you.

That Girl In The Park?

2016-03-21T22:14:00.000-04:00

I don't recall ever reading or hearing this but I just today realized that one of my all-time favorite TV series, THAT GIRL, was perhaps inspired by one of my all-time favorite comedy plays, BAREFOOT IN THE PARK. The play premiered in 1963 and featured an independent, attractively ditzy, young woman in NYC in love with a rather staid, more conservative professional man...the same basic premise as THAT GIRL, whose pilot was shot in 1965 I believe and featured an independent, attractively ditzy young woman in love with a staid, conservative professional man. The clincher here would seem to be that just before THAT GIRL, Marlo Thomas had starred with acclaim in a production of BAREFOOT IN THE PARK in London!

The Fabulous Funnies-1968

2016-03-14T16:36:00.002-04:00

I have only the vaguest memories of being disappointed by this 1968 TV special about the history of comic strips. As I recall--and read online--it didn't take them nearly as seriously as I did!